Guest Columnists

Murrow journalists tour Fort Morgan

Visitors from China, Hong Kong, Singapore

Visitors from China, Hong Kong and Singapore talked with Fort Morgan officials as part of a visit through the U.S. State Departmentâ s Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists last week.
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A delegation of Chinese, Hong Kong and Singapore visitors came through Fort Morgan last week, revealing that China is not always what we think.

For example, state security does not stand over reporters to censor them, said Lu Yao, the director of news assignments for China Business News TV.

Also, Chinese property owners pay a tax when they buy property, but not annual property taxes, she said.

Yao was part of the group which came to the U.S. as part of the State Department's Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists.

The group first visited Fort Morgan High School to see how diverse students are in the school.

One of the questions students asked was why the visitors would come to rural Fort Morgan, said Fort Morgan Police Chief Keith Kuretich, who hosted the visit.

Yong May Han, left, and Lu Yao, right, chat with Morgan County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Cassandra Wilson during lunch as part of a visit by a group of people from Asia to Fort Morgan through the U.S. State Departmentâ s Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists.
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Over the past decade, Singapore has seen a lot of immigrants, said Yong May Han, news editor for Lianhe Zaobao, a Chinese language newspaper in Singapore. People from China, India and all over the world have come to live in the city.

She said she was very interested in how American governmental and press systems work, and how America deals with immigrants.

The Republic of Singapore sits off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, and it has a kind of free press. While the government does not censor the press, it does hand out licenses for media, and that has to be renewed, Han said.

Hearing that water is a big issue in Morgan County, she said her government has a lot of foresight.

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A country that is heavily populated, it recycles its water and collects rain water to meets its residents' needs, she said. About 70 percent of its 5 million residents live in high-rise buildings.

Singapore legislative representatives are required to meet with constituents every week.

Hong Kong has freedom of the press, although it is officially part of China, because it has been a special administrative region since the British left, said Guanxiong Wu.

All of the journalists were very interested in how The Fort Morgan Times survives in a time when newspapers are struggling. They were surprised to see a daily newspaper put out by so few people.

Asked about how China deals with intellectual property like patents and copyrights, Yao said that for the past 30 years the country has been concentrated on manufacturing. However, as it becomes more focused on high-end technology and services, people can expect more attention to intellectual property.

Kuretich said Fort Morgan was a stop for the group partly because it represents the "heart of America," and partly because of its diverse but co-existing population.

Living with a variety of cultures has not always been easy, said Mayor Terry McAlister.

"Change is really hard," he said. "It's becoming a melting pot."

The biggest challenge is to educate the community about the newcomers at the same time as educating immigrants in local laws and customs, he said.

McAlister explained that Fort Morgan has many immigrants due to the jobs at the Cargill Meat Solutions beef plant. That is something happening across the U.S. as refugees come to the country.

It is important to be proactive, said retired Fort Morgan School District Superintendent Greg Wagers. Instead of waiting for problems to crop up, it is good to anticipate issues to make transitions easier.

Morgan County has the advantage of agencies willing to collaborate, he said.

Yao said she was interested in the demographics of the county.

Fort Morgan City Manager Jeff Wells noted that culture in rural America is different than urban America. For one thing, the county's economy is agriculturally based.

Morgan County has about 28,000 people, about 40 percent of whom are Hispanic, said Cassandra Wilson, executive director of the Morgan County Economic Development Corp.

The average yearly income is about $31,000 per worker, she said.

Morgan County would like to expand its higher paying jobs and bring in technological jobs, Wilson said.

Tianbing Weng, president of the Guangzhou Metro Daily and Zhou Xing, producer for Hong Kong Television International Media Group, also visited Fort Morgan.

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